


The Hawke's Harrowing

by BelleWrites (sunleyemrys)



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Father/Daughter, Harrowing, Humor, Pre-Dragon Age: Origins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-27
Updated: 2018-01-27
Packaged: 2019-03-09 23:35:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13492173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunleyemrys/pseuds/BelleWrites
Summary: Part of a r/dragonage writing prompt that was FAR too long to share completely there.





	The Hawke's Harrowing

It was time, Malcolm knew this in his gut. His eldest was ready to face the final lesson to become a mage. Sure, he and his two daughters were apostates, something he had never really wanted. Magic could be a curse at times, but seeing his children flourish and grow as they learned was not something he would change for the world.

Marian was so young though, barely seventeen summers old, and brash, everything is a joke to her. She reminded him so much of himself. It infuriated Leandra to no end, but he saw her sadness hidden under the humor. She worried for her younger siblings, for her mother, and strangely enough for him. He admired that trait in her.

Now he just had to figure out how to perform a Harrowing, which was easier said than done it seems. It had been nearly twenty-five years since he’d gone through his, and that had been a carefully controlled journey to the Fade. Lothering at least was quiet with not many Templars and a decent Chantry library for him to peruse. Maybe he could find something to help.

“Deep in thought my love?” Leandra’s voice spoke softly behind Malcolm, her fingertips brushing his shoulders.

He sighed heavily, taking her hand in his own. “Its time.” The words carried a weight, a finality to them.

His wife’s fingers tightened briefly in fear. “I see. And how shall it be done?” Leandra lacking magic of her own had also taken a step back when it came to teaching that, but she had taught the children so much in the hopes that one day they might return to nobility. A long-lost hope at this point.

Malcolm chuckled low. “Oh, I wish I knew. Harrowings aren’t something done willy-nilly, and the First Enchanter knows how to do it in every Circle, but its not widely shared knowledge.” He rose from his desk, bits of paper scattering to the ground.

“You’ll figure it out love,” Leandra kissed his greying beard gently. “You always figure it out.”

Marian was in the field tending to the plants and herbs growing while Bethany feed the various animals and Carver was busy mending a fence. The eldest Hawke child both looked very similar and yet different from her siblings and parents. Marian had wavy red hair worn in a short braid, the color coming from the Amell side, but the bright blue eyes were all Hawke though. The twins took after Malcolm greatly with Carver looking very much like he had in his youth.

“Marian!” Malcolm shouted, striding towards her, careful not to disturb her precious plants. Last time he had stepped on one she had created just enough static to have him be constantly zapped whenever he touched something. Malcolm would have found it funny if it hadn’t resulted in Leandra also getting shocked when he’d lain down with her.

Her brilliant eyes glanced up at her father, fingers smudged with colors and a streak across her face. “Yes Da?” Marian went back to sketching the flower she was crotched in front of. It looks like a purple Andraste’s Grace, which was possible given Marian’s constant cross-breeding of plants.

“We need to go into Lothering and check the Chantry library. Theres some information I need to look up.” He studied his daughter’s hands, she was a gifted artist and if she hadn’t been born with magic she would be studying with the great artists of Orlais by now.

She gave an exaggerated groan, “oh Maker! Really? But I don’t want to!” She pitched her voice to be higher and more nasal. “Can I get more supplies?” She asked quickly.

Malcolm rolled his eyes, arms crossing his chest, “Oh, I don’t know *can* you?” It was an old game, one neither had tired of.

She flung a bit of chalk at him, “Ugh, fine! *May* I get more supplies oh great and wonderful Father who helped bestow life upon this ungrateful child?”

He pressed a hand to chest as if pained, “Ouch! Awful child!” He reached down and plucked the paper from her grasp. “This is actually very good Marian. Your mother would love it.”

She gently pulled it back, sliding it behind the clean pieces. “Its not for Mother actually. It’s going in my next letter to Solona, her birthday is coming up, and while I cant really send her a gift, she likes flowers a lot, so I thought she would like this.”

Marian was a few years older than her second-cousin Solona, who lived in the Fereldan Circle. They had never met, but when Leandra had heard that her cousin had lost their eldest child to the Circle, Malcolm had tracked the child down and now the two had been exchanging letters for years, being very careful to not mention that Marian was a mage. It simply looked like two teenage girls writing silly letters to each other.

“I think Solona will cherish such a gift from her cousin.” Malcolm replied, gesturing towards Lothering, “We should get a move on unless we want to stay the night in town.”

“Perish the thought! Think of angry Mother would be? Especially if you took me to the tavern!” Marian tucked her supplies into her backpack and slung it over her shoulder walking in step with him.

Malcolm laughed, “I am not going to be responsible for you getting drunk!”

The Chantry library was of no help, there were four mentions of Harrowings and they were all accounts of mages failing them. It was not information Malcolm was willing to share with his daughter, Marian was already aware that something was going on.

Marian set two bowls of stew on the table and sat across from him, her eyes boring into his face. “Soooo, care to tell me why you’ve been devouring all the books on magic you can get your hands on lately? You’re looking for something, and you might as well get me to help you. I like reading books ya know.” She speared a bit of meat with her belt knife, waving it about in the air.

There was no hiding things from his eldest, she always tried to puzzle out any secret she came across. It was a maddening trait at times. “Its time for your,” Malcolm dropped his voice to a whisper. “Harrowing.” Her eyes widened, and she dropped her knife splashing back into the bowl. “But I haven’t a clue how to perform one. But the only mentions I can find are not helpful in the slightest. So I am at a loss.”

Marian’s face twisted in shock and wonder before falling to excited. “You think I’m ready?! Honestly? Andraste’s knickers! Da! I’m shocked! I don’t know what to say!”

Her unbridled enthusiasm made him smile. “Well, like I said, I don’t know how to do one. So it might be some time still before it actually happens.”

Her hands waved energetically in his face. “Da. Da. Oh Maker, Da! You are over thinking things again. It’s a trip to the Fade, we go there when we sleep but aren’t aware, right?” He nodded, trying to follow her chaotic thought process. “But to have control and be aware requires the use of lyrium, right?” Malcolm nodded again and was about to interrupt her when she spoke again. “And we cant get our hands on lyrium cause, well, apostates. We could however.” She gave him a devious grin reaching into her bag. “Swipe some from a Templar who had the gall to touch my bottom and offer to help me *pray* tonight.” She pulled a small vial of glowing blue liquid out and smiled widely.

“Oh Maker’s Breath.” Malcolm hissed, closing his hand over hers. “When did you learn to pickpocket? Who taught you that?”

She raised an eyebrow at him, “Uh, you did.”

Malcolm put his head in his hands with a groan. “Blessed Mother, I did.” He took a deep breath and straightened. “Alright, so we have at least one of the things we need.”

“The only thing really.” She piped up, earning a stern look.

“We need a safe place to do this now. Something we can easily defend or collapse if the worst should happen.” Marian made to open her mouth, but he stopped her with a gesture. “And you will not be going in alone. As much as I am your teacher, I am more so your father and no child of mine is going alone. I wont interfere unless I think your life is in danger. Beyond that, its up to you.”

She flicked a wrinkled bit of vegetable at her father. “May I speak now? Good. How far is Ostagar from here? Its pretty much a ruin, and if its occupied, well theres a lot of places near it.”

“Ostagar is bit too far for your mother’s peace of mind, but I think there is something along the way that will do for what we need.” Malcolm would have to study the maps of the area but the Hinterlands had a lot of uninhabited places what wouldn’t draw attention.

“Excellent, so we leave in the morning?” Marian twirled her spoon between bites.

“Well, might be a few days. We have to convince your mother and have a talk about your thieving.” He raised an eyebrow at his daughter who tried to appear innocent and terrified. “Please don’t tell Mother.”

It took three days to talk Leandra into being fine with her husband and eldest child leaving for possibly a week to enter the Fade. Malcolm wisely choose not to bring up how they obtained lyrium, or even say they had some in their possession. Carver was a mix of angry and jealous because he was being excluded once again from something, Bethany was finally able to talk sense by explaining it was very possible that one of them might not return.

Malcolm and Marian followed the Imperial Highway for a day and half before veering off east, towards the Forest. He warned that the Dalish frequented the Forest and the trees listened to the elves and would protect its People.

On the evening of the second day they found a small ruin, runes had been carved into the crumbling pillars, which when touched with magic lit with a very strong Barrier enchantment. “Well that’s handy.” Marian, sitting on a fallen stone and looking around. “Its quiet here Da. Too quiet for how deep we are.”

Malcolm set about clearing debris, “can you feel it Marian? The Veil is very weak here. The press of spirits wanting to come into our world. Its like a rushing river, but you have to be careful..”

“Not to get swept under the currents.” Marian finished starting a small fire. “Yes Da, I know. I can feel it. But I don’t feel, I guess the word is, malevolence. Almost like the spirits want to share their knowledge or something.” She shook her head, untying the braid and letting her hair fall free. “I mean, I get that the Chantry says that there are no ‘good’ spirits, but that has to be a load of shit. Right?”

Malcolm sat down next to her. “I haven’t a clue honestly. I once encountered a Spirit of Compassion, and all it wanted to do was help people move past a pain that was keeping them from healing, from moving on.” He sighed, watching his daughter study the fire. “But if that spirit had been bond and forced to act against it purpose? Maybe it would have become a demon. That’s what some of the Dalish believe, and it makes a weird sort of sense.” Marian looked at him a bit confused. “Its like, say you have a person whos whole life they knew goodness and peace and nothing bad ever happened to them. And then suddenly another person came in and said ‘no, your purpose is to kill anyone who walks through those doors, and if you don’t, I will kill you slowly.’ Would not that person be irrevocably changed by that?”

“Wouldn’t be reverse also be true though?” Marian asked. “If a person who has only known violence and pain was shown gentleness and kindness, wouldn’t that change them from being full of hatred?”

He sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know, anger is a lot harder to unlearn. It seeps into the bones. But it would take a person with a very big heart to do it.” Malcolm tossed a blanket at her. “Get some sleep, we do this first thing in the morning.”

Marian awoke at dawn, stretching her arms, feeling strangely relaxed for having slept on stone and dirt and with what was about to happen. Malcolm snored softly nearby. “Ha, Mother was right, he does sound like a mabari.”

“Do not.” Came a muffled reply as he turned over, blinking slowly. “Go wash in the stream, think of it like a baptism, try to wash away all your doubts and fears as they’ll affect the Fade.”

The morning air was chilly and the stream was even colder, but Marian understood the idea of cleansing the mind and body. Malcolm got up and prepared the area while she was gone, his own nervousness bleeding into his actions as he double, even triple checked things.

“I’m ready Da.” Marian stood in front of the fire, barefoot and unadorned with her damp hair curling around her face.

“Oh my little girl,” He chuckled. “I may not be ready for you to be grown.”

He walked over to her, the vial of lyrium glowing faintly in his hand. “Open yourself to the Fade, feel the small ripples in the Veil. We’re going to press through one to slip in. I hope.”

Marian coiled her magic slowly, the static gathering in the air and the few plants nearby seemed to move toward her. “You ready?” He asked taking her hand and combining his energy with hers. Fire and Ice with Lighting and Earth. She had been difficult to teach because what worked for a fire spell didn’t always translate well for lighting or earth spells.

He held the vial to her lips, letting the liquid cross her tongue, when Malcolm felt her begin to slide into the Fade he took a drink of the vial and joined his daughter.

 “Well this is really fucking weird. Not like my dreams at all.” Marian looked around, the Fade was shaped like the ruin they had set up in, but it wasn’t a ruin at all, but a small shrine. Wisps flitted about, oblivious to the mages. “So now what?”

Malcolm gazed at Marian, seeing a slight halo around her form, it crackled with raw power. She had always been skilled at magic, but he had never seen just how much strength his daughter possessed. Marian would be formidable. Of that he had no doubt.

“This is your Harrowing. You figure it out.” She shot him a dirty look and took a few tentative steps, avoiding places she knew had fallen stone. “You wont stub your toe, just walk normally.”

“Oh. Right. Of course.” Marian laughed softly to herself, feeling silly.

They explored in quiet before coming upon a Spirit. It was sitting under a tree, reading. “Hello?” Marian was being cautious and stayed back from the Spirit.

It looked up from the book. “You are not from here quick-one.” The Spirit looked a bit like an elven woman, with long braided hair that didn’t hide her pointed ears.

“No, I am not. But I am here to learn. May I ask what manner of Spirit are you?” Marian clasped her hands in front, to hide her nervous fidgeting.

“So polite. Timid almost. And from one with such power. Curious.” It cocked its head to the side and Marian could clearly see the facial tattoos the Dalish wore. “Ones such as you would just come and take take take, from my people, my lands. But no, you wish to learn, not conquer.” It nodded, setting the book down which vanished in a puff of smoke. “I am a Spirit of Knowledge, though some confuse me with Wisdom. So I shall pose a riddle then. Will that satisfy your quest?”

Marian nodded, uncertain as to what the riddle would be.

“A chained wolf howls while three birds lose their nest.  
The price is high, but change is best.  
One bird is bathed in red,  
Another in Grey.  
The last one soars and finds the wolf,  
While the world burns around them,  
A question is answered,  
Do the broken Circles and chains make you free?  
Of what do I speak?”

“Uh,” Marian’s mind raced. None of it quite made sense. “The birds are my siblings and me. I don’t know who the wolf is, but they are important.” The Spirit nodded smiling faintly. “That seems more like a prophecy than a riddle though. So I am going to say my future?”

Knowledge’s smiled widened. “You seem uncertain. Be certain with your choices, for you cannot unmake them.”

Marian chewed on her lip. “Yes, I am certain. You are foretelling my future. Though the world burning around me sounds really bad.”

“You are correct little Hawke. It is but a piece of what could be your future. Your choices and who you decide to be will affect this. Now, you,” the Spirit’s gaze switched to Malcolm. “I can see it inside you. It is small yet, you might be able to stop it, before it is too late. But you would risk your progeny for it. Is that a price you are willing to pay?”

The Spirit disappeared in a blink, shoving them out of the Fade with a gesture. Marian fell against a pillar breathing heavily. “Holy shit! That was something else.” She looked around for Malcom, finding him on the ground, curled in on himself. “Da? Da!” She was at his side in a flash, shaking his shoulders.

“Daddy?” Tears filled her eyes. Malcolm coughed violently, trying to hide the tinge of red that splattered his palms.

“I’m fine Marian. I’m fine.” He sat up with a grunt, wiping his hands on his dark pants.

She grabbed him in a hug, pressing her face into his chest. “Don’t you scare me like that! Maker’s left ball! What did the Spirit mean though? Whats wrong with you?”

Malcolm waved her off. “Its nothing, just a lingering cold. I’ll be better in the warmer months.”

Marian glared at him. “Da. We live in Ferelden. Its never bloody warm here.” He laughed. “Right you are. Right you are.”

They both stood and brushed the various bits off, checking over their bodies to ensure everything was as it should be. “So, I’m a full mage now?” Malcolm grinned, nodding. “Neat. I wanna learn shapeshifting magic!”

He could feel a headache coming on, now that she didn’t need to be serious, it was time for jokes. “I’m going to regret asking this, but why?”

Marian practically bounced over and grabbed his shoulders. “I wanna be a dragon!”  



End file.
